


Koujaku Week - day 7: Engagement

by ioverheardthis



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, set one year after the drama cd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioverheardthis/pseuds/ioverheardthis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt <i>engagement</i> during Koujaku Week 2016</p><p>A year after visiting the Mainland together, Koujaku and Aoba return to the Mainland during tamoukuri.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Koujaku Week - day 7: Engagement

**Author's Note:**

> I've actually had this story planned for a long time now, and this prompt finally got me to write it.

An entire year has passed since Koujaku took me to the Mainland for tamoukuri, and we're going back this year. I've packed my bag that I’m gonna take as my carry-on while Koujaku was at work today. I packed it with extra earbuds, a jacket for the plane, a single change of clothes, a few “just in case we lose our luggage” things, and something that I don't want Koujaku to see. Surprisingly, he wasn’t suspicious as to why I packed so early. Now we're rolling our clothes tightly instead of folding them to “keep wrinkles out and create more space,” according to Koujaku, and packing other essentials into our shared luggage before going to sleep; our flight leaves at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

 

 

The feeling of stepping off the plane and wheeling luggage behind me through a bustling airport was familiar and oddly inviting. Airports usually make me a little anxious but departing rather than boarding made the trip through the airport a lot smoother. Koujaku is also a lot more relaxed, so I can enjoy this adventurous feeling.

We take the familiar route to our hotel and I actually think our room is the same room we stayed in last time. When I asked Koujaku, he confirmed that it was indeed the same room.

Our first day in the hotel room was kind of like last time, except tonight, we bathed in the private open air bath together. Finally, with all awkwardness and embarrassment aside, we can now comfortably do things together that we wouldn’t do before when we were just friends. Exhausted from travelling, we stayed up only an hour after our bath to enjoy the autumn night through the large window and then we headed to bed.

Koujaku fell asleep long before me; I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we’re going to visit Koujaku’s mother’s grave like we did last time. This time, however, I have words of my own to share. I haven’t really planned what exactly I’m going to say. I’ve gone over the important parts of my speech but I didn’t memorize anything because I want things to sound natural. Now, I’m wishing I had memorized something, or at least wrote a few things down; I’m scrambling to remember everything that I want to say and the order I want to say it in.

I finally fall into a worrying sleep and wake up at two in the morning wrenching myself out of a worst-case-scenario dream. The same thing happens at six in the morning, and then Koujaku wakes me from another dream at eight. I’m so nervous for today but once I see the gentle way he’s smiling at me this morning, I’m not too sure why. My anxiety starts to fade when he pulls me up from the pillows into a hug but then I become aware of how groggy I am.

“Did you not sleep good?” Koujaku asks with a concerned frown, holding me at arm’s length and examining the rough night’s sleep etched under my eyes.

“‘M fine,” I grumble, shaking him off and getting out of bed.

“Well, I’m not sure how you could be jet lagged, we never traveled across a timezone,” he says, mirth in his voice.

I just give a sarcastic laugh as my answer.

“I’ll just order breakfast and we can eat it in our room, how ‘bout that?” he offers, still looking a little concerned that I didn’t sleep well.

“Order me some extra coffee, would’ya?” I joke and close the bathroom door on his laugh.

* * *

 

Our bus ride through the mountainside was just as gorgeous as it was last time, and when Beni started retelling his story about maple trees, I used a look to dare Ren to interrupt. My little puppy AllMate sat quietly in my arms as Koujaku became the one to interrupt Beni with protests that the bird had already told this story. The argument that followed was pretty entertaining.

 

“You're so sweet,” Koujaku says on our trek to the cemetery.

I pull my bag up higher on my shoulder, looking to Koujaku for elaboration but it never came. “Why?”

“Letting that little boy pet Ren.”

A boy on the bus had approached us not too long after Koujaku and Beni’s argument and asked if he could pet Ren. The little boy couldn't have been more than four years old. While he was petting my AllMate, he couldn't believe that a dog was allowed on the bus to which his mother, who was sitting across from us, explained Ren was an AllMate. We then got into a pleasant conversation with the boy’s mother about being from Midoijima. Any time the boy wasn't petting Ren, he was brushing his long, dark hair out of his face. The haircut actually reminded me of Koujaku’s when he was a child.

“I don't think Ren was too thrilled,” I laugh.

Truth is, I was thankful for the distraction. I'm so nervous and I know Koujaku is bound to pick up on it soon.

 

We arrive at the cemetery and start cleaning off Koujaku’s mother’s grave. The weeds weren’t so dense as they were last time, and we really just collected fallen leaves into the bag we brought to clean up. Next, Koujaku poured water over the headstone and we scrubbed off all the dirt. Koujaku poured water over the headstone once more and then set up the flowers we had brought. He also offered the hairpin to her once more while I lit incense Koujaku said were her favorite perfume.

We then pay our respects and Koujaku begins telling his mother how he’s faring. He tells her about finally opening his salon which was both of their dreams for him. He thanks her for his life and for first bringing him to Midorijima so that he could meet me. He then goes on to tell her about our relationship and he apologizes for not mentioning it last year.

“I think she knew,” I say, grinning.

Eyes shining, Koujaku holds out his hand for mine. “He even cut my hair,” Koujaku says, a smile growing on his face, “so your teachings have been passed on.”

I look over Koujaku’s hair with a fond smile; it’s grown out since I last trimmed it. The first time I cut it, I cut it pretty short but he prefers to have a little length so we’ve let it grow until it grazes his shoulders. It’s still a bit too short to wear a hairpin, though.

“Are you alright?” he asks me after a long pause.

I wrench myself out of my thoughts and blink back to reality. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I turn my focus back to the headstone, admiring the smoke from the incense blowing in the wind, and the floral scent calms me.

He still looks concerned and he searches my face. “You wanna say something?”

I lick my lips nervously. “If you’re finished.”

He looks a little surprised but not much; he can tell I have something on my mind. He then smiles. “Yeah, I think I am. I’ve said all I need and it’s nice to end on a positive note this time.”

I smile back then take a deep breath. “Okay.”

“I remember,” I say on the exhale of another deep breath, “whenever Koujaku and I would come home after a day of playing, you would always thank me for playing with him and for being his friend.”

I glance at Koujaku and he’s smiling with nostalgia, his gaze somewhere far away. “As a kid, I... I was really confused by what you meant. I wanted to play with Koujaku; he was my best friend!” I glance at him again when I feel his gaze on me. “He still is.”

I turn my attention to my hands folded in my lap but still speak to Koujaku’s mother. “Now I understand why you were so relieved that someone played with Koujaku and made him happy. I understand why you were glad someone was making Koujaku’s life on Midorijima fun and worth living. I understand that you wanted Koujaku to have someone he could play with all day so he could forget his life on the Mainland. But I didn’t understand then. Then, I just thought it was crazy to be thanking _me_ for playing with Koujaku when he was my only friend.”

I feel Koujaku’s hand start tracing soothing lines on my back. I pause for a moment to collect my thoughts. For a moment, I smelled the incense, I felt Koujaku’s hand on my back, I heard the chirping of the birds in the trees around the cemetery, and then everything I wanted to say fell into place.

“Sometimes, you would ask me to always take care of Koujaku - which, again, confused me. Koujaku was strong and smart, and he always took care of _me_. He was always there for me when my grandmother was at work. When kids would bully me for the length and color of my hair, Koujaku would defend me. To me, as a kid, Koujaku didn’t need taken care of because he was _my_ hero.” I watch Koujaku’s eyes grow soft and sad as he searches my gaze, but I continue to talk to his mother. “He eventually went back to the Mainland with you... and I  co-couldn’t take care of him,” I choked out, hearing the my tears as much as I felt them.

I catch sight of a tear rolling down Koujaku’s face before it’s quickly wiped away, and I pretend I didn’t see it. I decide that’s all I need to say about that: we all know what I meant.

I sniff and clear my throat. My tears have stayed in my eyes so far, and I think they’re starting to dissipate as my words grow stronger. “But now he’s back… and I _promise_ to take care of him. I’ll _always_ take care of him; just like you asked me to.”

I look into his eyes and I can actually muster a smile. “I don’t know if…” I swallow thickly before smiling wider, “if... marriage… is what you had in mind but I want to ask for your blessing, and I know you would give it to us.”

Koujaku’s face goes blank, his hand drops from my back, and his breathing becomes quicker. I let a quiet snort of laughter. I had tossed around ideas on how Koujaku would react to my words, and this is the reaction I had bet on - my boyfriend is dramatic and predictable, and I love him.

“I love your son very much,” I say, taking Koujaku’s limp hand. “Thank you for bringing him to me.”

Koujaku doesn’t seem to care or even notice that tears are streaming down his face as he chokes out my name.

I reach up and brush his hair back before throwing my arms around him. “I haven’t asked you anything yet, so don’t answer right now,” I mutter into his ear before kissing the side of his head. I have everything planned out so I can give my sappy, romantic boyfriend the proposal he deserves. “I was just asking your mother for her blessing.”

He doesn’t respond and I feel him tremble in my arms. It' not like I didn't expect this reaction from him but it still sends a pang through my heart. I knew visiting his mother was extremely emotional, and what I just said to her was difficult for Koujaku to hear, so I let him gather himself in my arms. I don't want to purposefully overwhelm Koujaku, so I'm glad the ring is back in our hotel room.

I keep my fingers in his hair as I slowly lean back and sit on my heels. “I ordered room service and I have -- I actually can’t believe you didn’t find it -- I have a little box rolled up in a pair of my socks.” I took it out of my bag in a _very_ sneaky fashion last night. I was afraid it might get stolen but more afraid I would lose it. Plus, I didn’t want to propose in a graveyard.

Holy shit, I haven’t actually thought those words to myself; I’m gonna propose. My heart starts to pick up pace and I can feel tears spring up again. I’m not worried at all about Koujaku’s answer - judging by his mixed expression of excitement, joy, and love right now, I don’t know why I was ever worried. The sheer joy of this moment makes me start to cry too. The anxiety is gone, and now, all I feel is elated.

“Ready to go?” I ask after a tearful laugh. It’s sort of amusing to see Koujaku speechless; I haven’t seen him speechless since I first cut his hair.

After he nods, we pick up everything we brought, make sure the area is clean, say our goodbyes, then we make the long trip back to the bus stop.

* * *

The way back to the hotel is kind of a blur. It seems kind of strange to be heading back so early but there certainly isn’t anything else what want to do right now.

I lead the still-stunned Koujaku up the stairs to our hotel room. Pushing open the door, I instantly see the rose petals scattered across the floor like I had requested and a covered cart of food and wine in the middle of the room. I let out a breath of relief; the hotel usually wasn’t _this elaborate_ with room service but the owners have known Koujaku for all his life and when I called ahead and told them I was proposing, they excitedly told me the staff was prepared to do anything I asked.

Our room is visually gorgeous and smells terrific. The trail of rose petals wind along the floor and are sprinkled delicately across the bed, and I can’t help but blush at the thought of someone coming in our room and knowing exactly why I wanted our room to look so romantic. Not that Koujaku and I had time to mess up the room last night but it’s so clean it almost sparkles. The cart in the middle of the room was loaded with some of Koujaku’s favorite foods, a bottle of fine wine, and a lot of sweets.

I usher him further into the room and close the door but didn’t forget to put the “do not disturb” sign on the handle. Now my heart has started to pound and I feel very nervous.

“Aoba,” Koujaku breathes.

“Yeah,” I answer dumbly.

Koujaku finally snaps back to reality and watches me intensely. “You alright?”

I swallow harshly and a nervous chuckle bubbles up in my throat. “Yeah, I’m just... really nervous all of the sudden.”

Koujaku takes one of my clammy hands. “Why? It’s just me.” He gives me a watery smile but it’s encouraging nonetheless.

I nod towards the neat bed. “Can you go sit down?” I ask.

Koujaku gives my hand one last squeeze before doing what I ask. I run on autopilot as I set my bag down (with both Ren and Beni sleeping inside) and move towards the dresser to open one of the drawers. Koujaku neatly put away all of our clothes last night after our bath, making my life more stressful as I had to plan a way to get the little box out of my bag and wrap it in a pair of my socks without him noticing.

In my trembling hands, I carry the little box with me as I move over to the bed. Biting my lip, I take deep breaths through my nose. Koujaku is just as nervous as I am, and that somehow calms me. His shining, red eyes are looking up at me with so much affection but I see him wringing his beautiful hands.

I grin despite myself. “If I had anything to say, I can’t remember it.”

That startles a laugh out of him. “It’s okay, Aoba.”

I bend down slightly and press a quick kiss to his lips before I pull back and finally convince my shaking legs to allow me to get down on one knee. It was an embarrassingly romantic gesture but this is something I know Koujaku would want. It turns out, I was right in thinking so because he lets out a sob.

I smile up at him while fiddling with the box. “I love you, Koujaku. I loved you since I was eight years old.” I choke out a sob of my own at that, beaming. “God, that’s a long time,” I add in a whisper, shaking my head and he chuckles. I sniff before continuing.

I lick my lips before opening the box and I watch Koujaku put the side of his hand against his mouth to keep himself from sobbing again.

“Will you marry me?”

Koujaku starts to nod even before he takes his hand away. “Yes,” he finally says in a shaky voice.

I can’t help but start to laugh and laugh loudly, and it isn’t long before Koujaku joins in. I’m not sure what exactly made me starting laughing but a combination of joy, relief, and exertion is definitely what made me start crying. I’m also not sure if I had the strength to stand up or if Koujaku hoisted me up but suddenly I’m in his arms and he’s in mine.

I love the way Koujaku kisses me when he’s happy or excited; he inhales deeply through his nose against my skin the moment his lips crash into mine as if he’s trying to fill all his senses with some kind of essence from me. I’m not sure how long we kiss like this - I’m lost in the way his fingers are carding through my hair and how he angles his kisses to land perfectly against my lips each time but I finally remember the box when I almost drop it due to my hand going weak.

I pull back from him just far enough to sit properly on the bed, and I take the ring from the box. Koujaku expectantly offers his left hand to me and I slide the engagement ring onto his ring finger. I let out the breath I had been holding when I see that the ring fits perfectly - I had been a little worried up until this moment but I knew Koujaku’s hands well enough to guess what his ring size would be.

Koujaku examines the ring with an expression of pure joy, and that’s another weight off my chest. The beveled-edge ring is a beautiful white and rose gold, and it's something that I knew Koujaku would adore. Rose gold was not my first choice in color but I couldn’t pass up the ring after I saw it.

“It’s so beautiful, Aoba,” Koujaku whispers never taking his eyes off the ring.

Trying to calm my heart down which was still causing me to shake with exhilaration, I silently watch him flip his hand to admire the ring from every angle. Seeing the way he’s looking at the ring is making what just happened sink in and I rest my head against his shoulder so I could catch my breath. “I’m so glad you like it.”

He chuckles at my exhausted voice. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

I shake my head; I knew he would like the ring, I’m just glad to finally hear it.

“Did you ever doubt that I would say yes?” he asks jokingly.

I sigh. “I didn’t think that you would say _no_ but you always kind of have that fear, you know?”

He shakes his head and clicks his tongue. “I can’t say that I have, Aoba. I’ve never proposed to someone.”

 

I laugh, and, still laughing, flop back into the bed and spread my arms out. “Now I’m emotionally exhausted,” I say to the ceiling through my giggles.

Koujaku lays down next to me and gently rests his head on my chest.

“You too?” I ask, still unable to wipe the beam off my face.

Koujaku chuckles before humming a yes.

I wrap my arms around him, one hand in his hair and the other idly drawing patterns on his shoulder. We’re quiet for some time, just gathering our thoughts and listening to the singing birds outside our window.

“We’re really gonna get married, Koujaku,” I finally say, my eyes tracing the shapes on the ceiling.

At those words, Koujaku moves to straddle my waist, and then he’s kissing me again. It takes me by surprise and he’s kissing me too passionately for me to catch up.

In the fraction of a second that he comes up for air, I gasp his name.

He pulls back, looking concerned. “What?” he pants.

“Can we eat first?” I ask, also panting. “And then maybe take a bath?”

Resting his forehead against mine, Koujaku chuckles. “Of course we can, baby.”

* * *

By the early evening, we’re relaxing together in the open air bath.

I shift to look up at Koujaku’s blissful expression, and he cracks open his eyes. He rubs my bare back. “You okay, baby?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, a little embarrassed. “Are my eyes all red and puffy?”

Koujaku is now giving me his full attention, and he furrows his eyebrows. “You’re gorgeous, Aoba - you just look like you’ve been crying.”

Before we got into the open air bath, we took a quick shower to wash off. There, everything that happened today finally sunk in and I broke down into tears. The moment Koujaku began washing my hair, I began to sob. It hit me that this was going to be my life from now on: Koujaku and I would live together and do simple things like take a shower together for the rest of our lives. The feeling was similar to when I first moved in to Koujaku’s house, only now times a million. Moving in together felt almost as big of a commitment as getting engaged did. In reality, this step in our relationship wasn’t exactly a major one; we’ve already been through so much together, plus we’ve been living together for over a year now, but our future together seems so much more definite with the sight of my ring around Koujaku's finger.

“I think we should start saving to build one of these in our house,” I say while casually kicking my feet in the water.

Koujaku hums. “Whatever you want, baby.”

“Then we don’t have to cram in that little bathtub when we want to take a bath together,” I continue, not like Koujaku needed convincing, though; I knew he loved the size of this open air bath but I also knew that bathing in an open air bath was a luxury stolen from him when the tattoos were forced onto his body. Being in an open air bath probably felt even more special to him for that reason. “But... I do like our little, cramped bathtub…” I add quietly. I would probably miss our bathtub.

“Yeah, but when we get old, this would be really nice to have,” he says thoughtfully.

I gently elbow him in the side. “Don’t make me cry again.” Hearing him say ‘ _when we get old’_ made me kind of emotional about marriage again. I don’t know why - it’s not like I’ve never thought about life with Koujaku before; I’m not sure why marriage somehow makes the thought about spending the rest of my life with Koujaku any different. All marriage really is is a piece of paper.

Koujaku laughs. “Sorry.”

I sink down a little lower into the hot water, turning slightly so I’m leaning my back against Koujaku, so relaxed I could probably go to sleep. The beautiful view of the evening sky from the large windows makes the bath even more relaxing. “Oh yeah, by the way, I booked us three more days here. Well, two nights and three days,” I say, remembering that I had asked the hotel staff to not mention our stay and then forgetting because the hotel staff didn’t mention our stay. “Just so we can spend time together before we have to go back to our lives.”

As if on cue, Koujaku kisses the top of my head in a grateful way. “You’re so romantic, Aoba.”

I roll my eyes. “I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

“Should we call your grandmother, then? Tell her our news?”

I note the undertone of excitement in Koujaku’s voice and I know he must be dying to tell someone.

“I don’t know…” I say hesitantly. “She might rather we tell her in person.”

“Did she know you were proposing?”

I snort: like I would tell Granny. She would probably laugh at me, or worse, she would give me “advice” and basically tell me not to fuck it up which would make me even more nervous. “No, I didn’t tell her.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

Koujaku sounds a little suspicious, and so I turn to look at him. “Just Mizuki. Why?”

He laughs. “Why Mizuki?”

I shrug. “I was just asking him for some advice.”

“What did he say?”

I start to laugh at the memory of Mizuki on the phone just babbling away about how Koujaku would love anything that I did. “You know Mizuki: he just laughed. He said you would like anything I came up with, so he was absolutely no help at all.”

Koujaku hums his amusement. “You trusted him with your secret?”

I actually trust Mizuki just about as much as I trust Koujaku, so I’m not really sure why he’s asking. “Yeah. Mizuki told me a lot of his teammates come to him for advice about proposals, and surprises like that, so I knew he wouldn’t tell.”

Koujaku is cracking up before I even finish my sentence, and before I can voice my annoyance, it dawns on me what I just said. “Oh... I guess... he told me that,” I say, joining in with Koujaku.

Once we stop laughing, I snuggle back into Koujaku. “We can call Mizuki, if you want,” I offer, and he seems pretty content with that idea. “I’m sorry I didn’t propose publicly with a flash mob,” I add jokingly. Koujaku may be romantic but he isn’t theatrical; I just sometimes tease him for being a bit old fashioned with the romance.

Apparently, Koujaku takes it seriously, and I should’ve guessed he would.

“Aoba, your proposal was perfect - absolutely perfect. I’ll treasure the memory for the rest of my life.” He dips his head slightly to kiss my forehead. “Thank you.”

I feel it get a little hotter in the bathroom at Koujaku’s sincere words. “Were you genuinely surprised?”

“In a good way,” he affirms.

“Last year, when we went back home and you said you were going to tell your mother about me, I thought you were going to propose,” I admit, “but you didn’t. That’s when I realized that I wanted to be engaged... and eventually get married.”

Koujaku sighs. “I’m sorry, Aoba.”

“No, no! It’s okay.” I regret how I phrased my words. “I just meant that I really do want to get married, Jack.”

“I thought you didn’t like marriage,” he explains. “I guess I shouldn’t have assumed you still felt the same way.”

In the past, before we were together, I remember ranting about marriage to him: about how I didn’t need a piece of paper to tell me who I love and that the only reason I would ever get married is to have legal rights to hospital visits.

I reach up and kiss his chin. “Well, when I thought you were going to propose, it just got me thinking about marriage and then I realized there’s nothing else I want more than to be married to you.” It felt a little embarrassing to say that out loud but I want Koujaku to know that I proposed for both of us, not just for his sake.

“It all worked out,” he smiles, kissing me. “And then someday, you’ll get to introduce me as your husband.”

I go blood red at that, hiding my face in his neck with a resigned sigh. However, that actually sounds wonderfully appealing.

  
  
Koujaku was right: the proposal was absolutely perfect. Today turned out wonderful. We didn’t need anything else, and Koujaku didn’t want anything else. No public proposal, no flashy ring full of diamonds, no theatrics. In the end, making love on a bed covered in rose petals seemed like the only ideal way to spend a night after a proposal. As we lay in bed that night, Koujaku starts to cry again and so do I. For a long time, I viewed marriage as only a public display of a commitment, but now I know that it’s a promise to each other. I promised Koujaku’s mother all those years ago that I would take care of her son, and now I’m promising him that I will dedicate my life to healing his wounds.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is super late for Koujaku Week but this took a lot more time to write than I thought it would.
> 
> The choice of Koujaku's engagement ring was actually not planned for me either but rose gold just seems like a color that would fit him so well. It looks like [this](https://68.media.tumblr.com/5a3e8aa5797b7f82099dc8051c21e329/tumblr_od0s70u0rT1usfdmdo2_r1_1280.jpg)
> 
> And also, the hotel room open air bath looks something like [this](https://67.media.tumblr.com/6558a9254dfafbf414c07bff30c6a8a7/tumblr_od0s70u0rT1usfdmdo1_1280.png) to me.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
